Taurus (Latin for "the Bull"; symbol: , Unicode: ♉) is the second astrological sign in the present zodiac. It spans the 30–60th degree of the zodiac, the Sun is in the sign of Taurus from about April 20 until about May 21[2] (Western astrology) [3] (Sidereal astrology). People born between these dates, depending on which system of astrology they subscribe to, may be called Taureans.[4][2]

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Taurus was the first sign of the zodiac established among the ancient Mesopotamians – who knew it as the Bull of Heaven – because it was the constellation through which the sun rose on the vernal equinox at that time. Due to the precession of the equinox, it has since passed through the constellation Aries and into the constellation Pisces (hence our current era being known as the Age of Pisces). The Bull represents a strong-willed character with great perseverance and determination; in India Taurus is known by its Sanskrit name Vṛṣabha, which is occasionally given as a name for Shiva and his vehicleNandi as well as the first of twenty-four JainTirthankara, Rishabhanatha. In Egypt, Taurus was seen as the cow goddess Hathor. Hathor was the goddess of beauty, love, and happiness, and she represented all of the riches seen in cattle as the providers of nourishment. Roman astrologers considered Taurus ruled by Venus, the goddess of beauty, and Earth, the goddess of the earth and nature. Taurus is opposite to Scorpio.[5].

1.
Taurus (constellation)
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Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac, which means it is crossed by the plane of the ecliptic. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemispheres winter sky and it is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to at least the Early Bronze Age when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, a number of features exist that are of interest to astronomers. Taurus hosts two of the nearest open clusters to Earth, the Pleiades and the Hyades, both of which are visible to the naked eye, at first magnitude, the red giant Aldebaran is the brightest star in the constellation. In the northwest part of Taurus is the supernova remnant Messier 1, one of the closest regions of active star formation, the Taurus-Auriga complex, crosses into the northern part of the constellation. The variable star T Tauri is the prototype of a class of pre-main-sequence stars, in September and October, Taurus is visible in the evening along the eastern horizon. The most favorable time to observe Taurus in the sky is during the months of December. By March and April, the constellation will appear to the west during the evening twilight and this constellation forms part of the zodiac, and hence is intersected by the ecliptic. This circle across the sphere forms the apparent path of the Sun as the Earth completes its annual orbit. As the orbital plane of the Moon and the planets lie near the ecliptic, the galactic plane of the Milky Way intersects the northeast corner of the constellation and the galactic anticenter is located near the border between Taurus and Auriga. Taurus is the only constellation crossed by all three of the equator, celestial equator, and ecliptic. A ring-like galactic structure known as the Goulds Belt passes through the Taurus constellation, the recommended three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is Tau. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 26 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 03h 23. 4m and 05h 53. 3m, while the coordinates are between 31. 10° and −1. 35°. Because a small part of the lies to the south of the celestial equator. During November, the Taurid meteor shower appears to radiate from the direction of this constellation. The Beta Taurid meteor shower occurs during the months of June and July in the daytime, between 18 and 29 October, both the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids are active, though the latter stream is stronger. However, between November 1 and 10, the two streams equalize, the brightest member of this constellation is Aldebaran, an orange-hued, spectral class K5 III giant star

2.
Sidereal and tropical astrology
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Sidereal and tropical are astrological terms used to describe two different definitions of a year. They are also used as terms for two systems of coordinates used in astrology. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the two systems do not remain fixed relative to each other but drift apart by about 1.4 arc degrees per century, the tropical system was adopted during the Hellenistic period and remains prevalent in Western astrology. A sidereal system is used in Hindu astrology, and in some 20th century systems of Western astrology, the actual positions of certain fixed stars as well as their constellations is an additional consideration in the horoscope. The classical zodiac was introduced in the neo-Babylonian period, at the time, the precession of the equinoxes had not been discovered. Classical Hellenistic astrology consequently developed without consideration of the effects of precession, the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes is attributed to Hipparchus, a Greek astronomer active in the later Hellenistic period. Ptolemy, writing some 250 years after Hipparchus, was aware of the effects of precession. He opted for a definition of the based on the point of the vernal equinox. While Ptolemy noted that Ophiuchus is in contact with the ecliptic, the Hindu Jyotisha system opted for defining the zodiac based on the fixed stars, i. e. directly tied to the eponymous zodiacal constellations, unlike Western astrological systems. Traditional Hindu astrology is based on the sidereal or visible zodiac, the difference between the Vedic and the Western zodiacs is currently around 24 degrees. This corresponds to a separation of about 1,700 years, when the vernal equinox was approximately at the center of the constellation Aries, the separation is believed to have taken place in the centuries following Ptolemy, apparently going back to Indo-Greek transmission of the system. Some western astrologists have shown interest in the system during the 20th century. Most sidereal astrologers simply divide the ecliptic into 12 equal signs of 30 degrees, a small number of sidereal astrologers do not take the astrological signs as an equal division of the ecliptic, but define their signs based on the actual width of the individual constellations. They also include constellations that are disregarded by the traditional zodiac, stephen Schmidt in 1970 introduced Astrology 14, a system with additional signs based on the constellations of Ophiuchus and Cetus. In 1995, Walter Berg introduced his 13-sign zodiac, which has the sign of Ophiuchus. Bergs system was received in Japan after having his book translated by radio host Mizui Kumi in 1996. For the purpose of determining the constellations in contact with the ecliptic, for example, the Sun enters the IAU boundary of Aries on April 19 at the lower right corner, a position that is still rather closer to the body of Pisces than of Aries. The IAU defined the boundaries without consideration of astrological purposes

3.
Western astrology
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Western astrology is the system of astrology most popular in Western countries. Western astrology is based on Ptolemys Tetrabiblos, which in turn was a continuation of Hellenistic. Astrology in western culture is often reduced to sun sign astrology. Astrology is generally regarded as pseudoscientific and it has consistently failed objective tests. A central principle of astrology is integration within the cosmos, the individual, Earth, and its environment are viewed as a single organism, all parts of which are correlated with each other. Cycles of change that are observed in the heavens are therefore reflective of similar cycles of change observed on earth and within the individual. Subsequently, Plato described astronomy and music as twinned studies of sensual recognition, astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, later philosophers retained the close association between astronomy, optics, music and astrology, including Ptolemy, who wrote influential texts on all these topics. Al-Kindi, in the 9th century, developed Ptolemys ideas in De Aspectibus which explores many points of relevance to astrology, the zodiac is the belt or band of constellations through which the Sun, Moon, and planets move on their journey across the sky. Astrologers noted these constellations and so attached a particular significance to them, most western astrologers use the tropical zodiac beginning with the sign of Aries at the Northern hemisphere Vernal Equinox always on or around March 21 of each year. The Western Zodiac is drawn based on the Earths relationship to fixed, designated positions in the sky, the Sidereal Zodiac is drawn based on the Earths position in relation to the constellations, and follows their movements in the sky. Due to a phenomenon called precession of the equinoxes, there is a shift in the correspondence between Earths seasons and the constellations of the zodiac. In modern Western astrology the signs of the zodiac are believed to represent twelve basic personality types or characteristic modes of expression, the twelve signs are divided into four elements fire, earth, air and water. Fire and air signs are considered masculine, while water and earth signs are considered feminine, the twelve signs are also divided into three qualities, Cardinal, fixed and mutable. Note, these are approximations and the exact date on which the sign of the sun changes varies from year to year. Zodiac sign for an individual depends on the placement of planets, if a person has nothing placed in a particular sign, that sign will play no active role in their personality. On the other hand, a person with, for example, newspapers often print astrology columns which purport to provide guidance on what might occur in a day in relation to the sign of the zodiac that included the sun when the person was born. Astrologers refer to this as the sun sign, but it is commonly called the star sign. These predictions are vague or general, so much so that even practising astrologers consider them of little to no value, in modern Western astrology the planets represent basic drives or impulses in the human psyche

4.
UT1
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Universal Time is a time standard based on Earths rotation. It is a continuation of Greenwich Mean Time, i. e. the mean solar time on the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, London. In fact, the expression Universal Time is ambiguous, as there are versions of it. All of these versions of UT, except for UTC, are based on Earths rotation relative to distant celestial objects, UTC is based on International Atomic Time, with leap seconds added to keep it within 0.9 second of UT1. Prior to the introduction of time, each municipality throughout the civilized world set its official clock, if it had one. Greenwich Mean Time, where all clocks in Britain were set to the time, was established to solve this problem. Chronometers or telegraphy were used to synchronize these clocks, Standard time, as originally proposed by Scottish-Canadian Sir Sandford Fleming in 1879, divided the world into twenty-four time zones, each one covering 15 degrees of longitude. All clocks within each zone would be set to the time as the others. This location was chosen because by 1884 two-thirds of all nautical charts, the conference did not adopt Flemings time zones because they were outside the purpose for which it was called, which was to choose a basis for universal time. During the period between 1848 and 1972, all of the countries adopted time zones based on the Greenwich meridian. The term Greenwich Mean Time persists, however, in usage to this day in reference to civil timekeeping. Based on the rotation of the Earth, time can be measured by observing celestial bodies crossing the meridian every day. Astronomers found that it was accurate to establish time by observing stars as they crossed a meridian rather than by observing the position of the Sun in the sky. Nowadays, UT in relation to International Atomic Time is determined by Very Long Baseline Interferometry observations of distant quasars, the rotation of the Earth and UT are monitored by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service. The International Astronomical Union also is involved in setting standards, the rotation of the Earth is somewhat irregular, and is very gradually slowing due to tidal acceleration. Furthermore, the length of the second was determined from observations of the Moon between 1750 and 1890. All of these cause the mean solar day, on the average, to be slightly longer than the nominal 86,400 SI seconds. As UT is slightly irregular in its rate, astronomers introduced Ephemeris Time, thus, civil broadcast standards for time and frequency usually follow International Atomic Time closely, but occasionally step in order to prevent them from drifting too far from mean solar time

5.
Constellation
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A constellation is formally defined as a region of the celestial sphere, with boundaries laid down by the International Astronomical Union. The constellation areas mostly had their origins in Western-traditional patterns of stars from which the constellations take their names, in 1922, the International Astronomical Union officially recognized the 88 modern constellations, which cover the entire sky. They began as the 48 classical Greek constellations laid down by Ptolemy in the Almagest, Constellations in the far southern sky are late 16th- and mid 18th-century constructions. 12 of the 88 constellations compose the zodiac signs, though the positions of the constellations only loosely match the dates assigned to them in astrology. The term constellation can refer to the stars within the boundaries of that constellation. Notable groupings of stars that do not form a constellation are called asterisms, when astronomers say something is “in” a given constellation they mean it is within those official boundaries. Any given point in a coordinate system can unambiguously be assigned to a single constellation. Many astronomical naming systems give the constellation in which an object is found along with a designation in order to convey a rough idea in which part of the sky it is located. For example, the Flamsteed designation for bright stars consists of a number, the word constellation seems to come from the Late Latin term cōnstellātiō, which can be translated as set of stars, and came into use in English during the 14th century. It also denotes 88 named groups of stars in the shape of stellar-patterns, the Ancient Greek word for constellation was ἄστρον. Colloquial usage does not draw a distinction between constellation in the sense of an asterism and constellation in the sense of an area surrounding an asterism. The modern system of constellations used in astronomy employs the latter concept, the term circumpolar constellation is used for any constellation that, from a particular latitude on Earth, never sets below the horizon. From the North Pole or South Pole, all constellations south or north of the equator are circumpolar constellations. In the equatorial or temperate latitudes, the term equatorial constellation has sometimes been used for constellations that lie to the opposite the circumpolar constellations. They generally include all constellations that intersect the celestial equator or part of the zodiac, usually the only thing the stars in a constellation have in common is that they appear near each other in the sky when viewed from the Earth. In galactic space, the stars of a constellation usually lie at a variety of distances, since stars also travel on their own orbits through the Milky Way, the star patterns of the constellations change slowly over time. After tens to hundreds of thousands of years, their familiar outlines will become unrecognisable, the terms chosen for the constellation themselves, together with the appearance of a constellation, may reveal where and when its constellation makers lived. The earliest direct evidence for the constellations comes from inscribed stones and it seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a relatively short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BC

6.
Triplicity
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In astrology, a triplicity is a group of three signs belonging to the same element. Trines are considered to be powerful and yet very comfortable. This suggests that the signs in each element are very comfortable and compatible with one another, in traditional astrology, the concept of triplicity embodied several factors concerning the four classical elements and were considered of particular importance. Besides the four elements, two other ways triplicity could be organized were by rulership type and by season. However, neither are given much attention by modern astrologers, however, astrology by season, in particular has been adopted by astrologers who practice in modern Neopaganism, Druidism and Wicca. In traditional Western astrology there are four triplicities based on the classical elements and this cycle continues on twice more and ends with the twelfth and final astrological sign, Pisces. Triplicity rulerships are an important essential dignity--one of the several factors used by traditional astrologers to weigh the strength, effectiveness. Many Hellenistic astrologers considered triplicity rulership the most powerful and demonstrable of the essential dignities of a planet. Triplicty rulerships are as follows, One way in which triplicty rulerships were used by earlier astrologers was to divide a persons life into three periods, early, middle, and late, participating rulers were not used after the Hellenistic period. In medieval systems of astrology, each essential dignity was given a different weight, domicile rulers were given 5 points of weight, exaltation rulers were given 4 points, and triplicity rulers were assigned 3 points of weight. This gives some idea of how much power medieval astrologers accorded to each essential dignity, traditional astrology also organizes triplicities according to the actual season in which the zodiac rose. For example, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini appear during the spring season

7.
Astrological sign
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In Western astrology, astrological signs are the twelve 30° sectors of the ecliptic, starting at the vernal equinox, also known as the First Point of Aries. The order of the signs is Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius. The concept of the zodiac originated in Babylonian astrology, and was influenced by Hellenistic culture. According to astrology, celestial phenomena relate to human activity on the principle of as above, so below, beyond the celestial bodies, other astrological points that are dependent on geographical location and time are also referenced within this ecliptic coordinate system. Various approaches to measuring and dividing the sky are currently used by differing systems of astrology, although the tradition of the Zodiacs names, Western astrology measures from Equinox and Solstice points, while Jyotiṣa or Vedic astrology measures along the equatorial plane. In Western and Indian astrology, the emphasis is on space, in Chinese astrology, by contrast, the emphasis is on time, with the zodiac operating on cycles of years, months, and hours of the day. A common feature of all three traditions however, is the significance of the Ascendant — the zodiac sign that is rising on the horizon at the moment of a persons birth. While Western astrology is essentially a product of Greco-Roman culture, some of its basic concepts originated in Babylonia. Isolated references to signs in Sumerian sources are insufficient to speak of a Sumerian zodiac. Specifically, the division of the ecliptic in twelve equal sectors is a Babylonian conceptual construction, by the 4th century BC, Babylonians astronomy and their system of celestial omens were influencing the Greek culture and, by the late 2nd century BC, Egyptian astrology was also mixing in. Association of the signs with Empedocles four classical elements was another important development in the characterization of the twelve signs. The following table enumerates the twelve divisions of celestial longitude, with the Latin names and the English translation. The longitude intervals, being a division, are closed for the first endpoint and open for the second — for instance, 30° of longitude is the first point of Taurus. Association of calendar dates with astrological signs only makes sense when referring to Sun sign astrology, Empedocles, a fifth-century BC Greek philosopher, identified Fire, Earth, Air, and Water as elements. Different mixtures of these produced the different natures of things. Empedocles said that those who were born with equal proportions of the four elements are more intelligent and have the most exact perceptions. The four astrological elements are considered as a direct equivalent to Hippocrates personality types. A modern approach looks at elements as the substance of experience

8.
Domicile (astrology)
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In astrology, a planets domicile is the zodiac sign over which it has rulership. This is a concept from the houses of the horoscope. A planetary ruler is given to sign, over which the planet is said to have a more powerful influence when positioned therein. A planet is considered to be in domal dignity when it is positioned in the sign it rules and this is the strongest of the five essential dignities of a planet. Conversely, Saturn, the most distant of the known to ancients, was accorded the rulership of Aquarius and Capricorn. Jupiter, being next farthest away, was given the signs on either side of Aquarius and Capricorn, some modern authorities uses the concept of night rulerships to find room for the additional dignities. Uranus was designated the day ruler of Aquarius while Saturn was to be its night ruler, similarly, Neptune was the day ruler of Pisces, leaving Jupiter as the night ruler, and Pluto was the day ruler of Scorpio with Mars as the night ruler. This notion probably had its origin in the concept of astrological sect, unfortunately, no allowance was made for these modern suggestions in the complex traditional doctrine of essential dignities, but the idea was very popular. The use of dual rulerships in a such as this was also be known as co-rulership. Although the status of Ceres is unknown at the moment in astrology, due to its new definition as a dwarf planet, it has been suggested as the ruler of Virgo or Taurus. Many modern astrologers assign what is called a natural rulership of each house of the horoscope to a different planet, traditionally, however, rulership of houses was understood to apply only in the individual birth-chart, in what is called an accidental rulership. In this case, co-rulership of a house in the horoscope is shared by planets that rule the sign on the cusp and any sign intercepted within the house. If, for example, the second house cusp is 0 degrees Taurus, if, as an example, the fourth house cusp as 27 degrees Libra on it and the fifth house cusp has 8 degrees Sagittarius then the house will be intercepted. It will have Venus as its ruler, but in addition to Venus, Pluto, Mars. When a person attempts to determine the rulership of a house, as in the case of intercepted houses, the sign that is in the middle of the house is the sign that the native must transcend before he can progress to the next phase of the houses rulership. No consensus has been reached by astrologers accepting the so-called modern rulership of either Ceres or Earth in lieu of traditional, rather than ancient and it isnt until Hellenistic astrology and afterwards that you begin to see domicile rulers, let alone domicile rulers of houses. A planets detriment is the sign opposite to its rulership or domicile, however, a detriment is not as averse as its fall. Furthermore, the ancients assigned domal dignity to the North and South nodes of the Moon, many suggestions have been made, but consensus could actually take centuries, as it did in the cases of Uranus and Neptune

9.
Planets in astrology
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Planets in astrology have a meaning different from the modern astronomical understanding of what a planet is. To the Greeks and the other earliest astronomers, this comprised the five planets visible to the naked eye. To ancient astrologers, the planets represented the will of the gods, to modern astrologers the planets represent basic drives or urges in the unconscious, or energy flow regulators representing dimensions of experience. They express themselves with different qualities in the signs of the zodiac. The planets are also related to other in the form of aspects. Modern astrologers differ on the source of the planets influence, hone writes that the planets exert it directly through gravitation or another, unknown influence. Others hold that the planets have no influence in themselves. In other words, the patterns of the universe repeat themselves everywhere, in fractal-like fashion. Therefore, the patterns that the make in the sky reflect the ebb. The planets are associated, especially in the Chinese tradition. Listed below are the meanings and domains associated with the astrological planets since ancient times. The planets in Hindu astrology are known as the Navagraha or nine realms, in Chinese astrology, the planets are associated with the life forces of yin and yang and the five elements, which play an important role in the Chinese form of geomancy known as Feng Shui. Astrologers differ on the associated with each planets exaltation. This table shows the astrological planets and the Greek and Roman deities associated with them, in most cases, the English name for planets derives from the name of a Roman god or goddess. Also of interest is the conflation of the Roman god with a similar Greek god, in some cases, it is the same deity with two different names. Treatises on the Ptolemaic planets and their influence on people born under their reign appear in book form. The seven classical planets are those seen with the naked eye. They are the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, sometimes, the Sun and Moon were referred to as the lights or the luminaries

10.
Earth
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Earth, otherwise known as the World, or the Globe, is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life. It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets, according to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence, Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago. Earths gravity interacts with objects in space, especially the Sun. During one orbit around the Sun, Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times, thus, Earths axis of rotation is tilted, producing seasonal variations on the planets surface. The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides, stabilizes the Earths orientation on its axis, Earths lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years. About 71% of Earths surface is covered with water, mostly by its oceans, the remaining 29% is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes, rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere. The majority of Earths polar regions are covered in ice, including the Antarctic ice sheet, Earths interior remains active with a solid iron inner core, a liquid outer core that generates the Earths magnetic field, and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics. Within the first billion years of Earths history, life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earths atmosphere and surface, some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago. Since then, the combination of Earths distance from the Sun, physical properties, in the history of the Earth, biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion, occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events. Over 99% of all species that lived on Earth are extinct. Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely, over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival. Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures, politically, the world has about 200 sovereign states, the modern English word Earth developed from a wide variety of Middle English forms, which derived from an Old English noun most often spelled eorðe. It has cognates in every Germanic language, and their proto-Germanic root has been reconstructed as *erþō, originally, earth was written in lowercase, and from early Middle English, its definite sense as the globe was expressed as the earth. By early Modern English, many nouns were capitalized, and the became the Earth. More recently, the name is simply given as Earth. House styles now vary, Oxford spelling recognizes the lowercase form as the most common, another convention capitalizes Earth when appearing as a name but writes it in lowercase when preceded by the. It almost always appears in lowercase in colloquial expressions such as what on earth are you doing, the oldest material found in the Solar System is dated to 4. 5672±0.0006 billion years ago. By 4. 54±0.04 Gya the primordial Earth had formed, the formation and evolution of Solar System bodies occurred along with the Sun

11.
Ceres (dwarf planet)
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Ceres is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Its diameter is approximately 945 kilometers, making it the largest of the planets within the orbit of Neptune. The 33rd-largest known body in the Solar System, it is the dwarf planet within the orbit of Neptune. Composed of rock and ice, Ceres is estimated to approximately one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt. Ceres is the object in the asteroid belt known to be rounded by its own gravity. From Earth, the apparent magnitude of Ceres ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, Ceres was the first asteroid discovered, by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo on 1 January 1801. It was originally considered a planet, but was reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s after many other objects in similar orbits were discovered. Ceres appears to be differentiated into a core and icy mantle. The surface is probably a mixture of ice and various hydrated minerals such as carbonates. In January 2014, emissions of water vapor were detected from several regions of Ceres and this was unexpected, because large bodies in the asteroid belt typically do not emit vapor, a hallmark of comets. The robotic NASA spacecraft Dawn entered orbit around Ceres on 6 March 2015, pictures with a resolution previously unattained were taken during imaging sessions starting in January 2015 as Dawn approached Ceres, showing a cratered surface. Two distinct bright spots inside a crater were seen in a 19 February 2015 image, on 11 May 2015, NASA released a higher-resolution image showing that, instead of one or two spots, there are actually several. In October 2015, NASA released a true portrait of Ceres made by Dawn. In February 2017, organics were reported to have been detected on Ceres in Ernutet crater, Johann Elert Bode, in 1772, first suggested that an undiscovered planet could exist between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Kepler had already noticed the gap between Mars and Jupiter in 1596, the pattern predicted that the missing planet ought to have an orbit with a semi-major axis near 2.8 astronomical units. Although they did not discover Ceres, they found several large asteroids. One of the selected for the search was Giuseppe Piazzi. Before receiving his invitation to join the group, Piazzi discovered Ceres on 1 January 1801 and he was searching for the 87th of the Catalogue of the Zodiacal stars of Mr la Caille, but found that it was preceded by another

12.
Exaltation (astrology)
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In astrology, exaltation is one of the five essential dignities of a planet. Each of the seven traditional planets has its exaltation in one zodiac sign and these positions are listed in astrological texts of the early medieval Arabic period, such as al-Birunis 11th-century Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology. The exaltations are one of the most ancient astrological factors still in use and they are used in ancient Mesopotamian astrology from an era which pre-dates the known use of the zodiac. Francesca Rochberg has pointed out that since the system is found in the tradition of Enuma anu enlil, the coffin texts pre-date attested Babylonian astrological texts. The pattern of the honored decans matches and appears to account for the pattern of the exaltation for four of the planets, why the Babylonians considered these placements to be dignified is not known to Western astrologers. Since in Hellenistic astrology aspects were generally recognised from sign to sign, however, the degree itself was used by ancient astrologers, for example, the exact degree of exaltation of each of the luminaries was used in the formula for the Hellenistic Lot of Exaltation. After the discovery of the three outer planets--Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto—modern astrologers speculated on possible domicile and exaltation rulerships for these planets and it was suggested, for example, that Neptune was the true domicile ruler of Pisces. The ancient system was complex and symmetrical, making no allowance for additional, unseen planets, most modern astrologers have therefore abandoned attempts to assign exaltations to these newer planets. Traditional Hindu Astrology, based the notion of exaltation primarily on the constellations, also called Nakshatras. There are 27 Nakshatras present in the Sidereal Zodiac, taking 360°/27 results in a precise arc of 13° 20′ per Nakshatra, remembering that 60′ constitute 1°. For example, although Jupiter is exalted in Cancer there are 3 different Nakshatras Jupiter could occupy within the 30° arc of Cancer, namely, Punarvasu, Pushya, since Jupiter is exalted at 5° Cancer this placement signifies his true exaltation in Pushya Nakshatra. The Nakshatra Devata of Pushya is Bṛhaspati, the teacher of the Gods, Jupiter will not give his full exaltation effects when he is posited in a Nakshatra besides Pushya although he is still generally exalted in the sign of Cancer. Furthermore, each Nakshatra is divided into four sections, also called pāda, the four pāda denote the four goals of life according to the Vedic tradition, namely, Dharma, Artha, Kāma, and Mokṣa. Although Jupiter finds strong exaltation in Pushya there are four different pāda Jupiter could occupy within the 13°20′ arc of Pushya, namely, Dharma pāda, Artha pāda, Kāma pāda, the sign position directly opposite a planets sign of exaltation is considered to be its fall. As the exaltation is a place of awareness for the planet, the fall is a position of weakness concerning the function of the planet, including everything else the planet represents

13.
Aries (astrology)
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Aries /ˈɛəriːz/ is the first astrological sign in the zodiac, spanning the first 30 degrees of celestial longitude. Under the tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this sign mostly between March 21 and April 19 each year and this time duration is exactly the first month of Solar Hejri calendar. The symbol of the ram is based on the Chrysomallus, the ram that provided the Golden Fleece. According to the system of astrology, the Sun enters the sign of Aries when it reaches the northern vernal equinox. Since 1900 the vernal equinox date has ranged from March 20 at 08h GMT to March 21 at 19h GMT, March 19 at 23,20 will occur in 2044 UT1. Individuals born between these dates, depending on system of astrology they subscribe to, may be called Arians or Ariens. Aries is the first fire sign in the zodiac, the fire signs being Leo. In contrast, under the zodiac, the sun currently transits Aries from April 15 to May 14. In western astrology, Aries is a sign of initiative, a leader, with bravery, uncomfortable with inaction, Aries is the Cardinal sign of Fire, and thus is the zodiac of drive. Ruled by Mars, Aries is strongly autonomous, and can be headstrong and crass, with the Ram as their standard, Aries tends toward obstinate and self-seeking. Jaunty and self-supporting, Aries is capable of independence and this quality may encourage others to emulate—but Aries is unlikely to pause for supporters. When Aries is found in a chart, there is enthusiasm, people under the Aries sign are believed to be like a child who is frank, enthusiastic, fierce, bit hotheaded and loyal to their friends. Since Aries is the first astrological sign in spring during which everything comes to life, longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°

14.
Taurus (astrology)
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Taurus is the second astrological sign in the present zodiac. It spans the 30–60th degree of the zodiac, the Sun is in the sign of Taurus from about April 21 until about May 21 or from about May 16 to June 16. People born between these dates, depending on system of astrology they subscribe to, may be called Taureans. The symbol of the bull is based on the Cretan Bull, due to the precession of the equinox, it has since passed through the constellation Aries and into the constellation Pisces. The Bull represents a character with great perseverance and determination. In Egypt, Taurus was seen as the cow goddess Hathor, Hathor was the goddess of beauty, love, and happiness, and she represented all of the riches seen in cattle as the providers of nourishment. Roman astrologers considered Taurus ruled by Venus, the goddess of beauty, longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°. Atsma, Aaron J. CRETAN BULL, Bull of Crete, labour Heracles, Greek mythology, pictures, constellation Taurus, learn About Taurus Horoscope - Love Compatibility - Personality. The Real Constellations of the Zodiac, astrology, Tropical Zodiac and Sidereal Zodiac. Archived from the original on November 18,2015, Taurus, Gemini - definitions of Taurus and Gemini in English from the Oxford dictionary

15.
Gemini (astrology)
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Gemini is the third astrological sign in the zodiac, originating from the constellation of Gemini. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this sign between May 21 and June 21, Gemini is represented by The Twins Castor and Pollux. The symbol of the twins is based on the Dioscuri, two mortals that were granted shared godhood after death, Geminis are considered to hold mysteriously unique artistic and creative abilities unlike other signs. Often considered to be very intelligent individuals, they have an appreciation for the arts, philosophy, history. They do not like boring people or routine procedures and therefore struggle to deal with authoritative figures and they are enlightened to talk about any subject which they find interesting and where they can stimulate their naturally intellectual personalities. Geminis are noted to be drastic and hasty yet very responsible and they are considered to be the most misunderstood of all signs due to their dual personality expressed by the twins of their sign. Because of this, dont be surprised to often find Geminis in different moods and this makes them quite philosophical people. Geminis are sensitive as well but use their intelligence to counter anything that upsets them. Geminis usually get very well with Leos, Aries and Sagittariuses. They do not see eye to eye with Pisces, Cancers, Gemini are best suited for people of Aquarius and Libra signs but also go well with Capricorns, and Taurus signs. Longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°, atsma, Aaron J. DIOSCURI, Greek Gods of Horsemanship, Protectors of Sailors | Mythology, Dioskouroi, w/ pictures. The dictionary definition of Gemini at Wiktionary Media related to Gemini at Wikimedia Commons Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

16.
Leo (astrology)
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Leo, is the fifth astrological sign of the zodiac, originating from the constellation of Leo. It comes after Cancer and before Virgo, under the tropical zodiac, the Sun transits this area on average between July 22 and August 23, the sign spans the 120th to 150th degree of celestial longitude. Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky, it seeks to understand general and specific human behavior through the influence of planets. It has been argued that astrology began as a study as soon as human beings made conscious attempts to measure, record, astrology is believed to have originated in China about the 3rd millennium BC. Its system is based on astronomy and calendars and its development is tied to that of astronomy, Leo is a fixed sign along with Taurus, Scorpio, and Aquarius. The symbol of the lion is based on the Nemean lion and it is a northern sign and its opposite southern sign is Aquarius. Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of astrology that was developed and practiced in the late Hellenistic period in and around the Mediterranean region. The texts and technical terminology of this tradition of astrology were largely written in Greek, the tradition originated sometime around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE, and then was practiced until the 6th or 7th century CE. The conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great exposed the Greeks to the cultures and cosmological ideas of Syria, Babylon, Persia, Greek overtook cuneiform script as the international language of intellectual communication and part of this process was the transmission of astrology from cuneiform to Greek. Sometime around 280 BC, Berossus, a priest of Bel from Babylon, moved to the Greek island of Kos in order to teach astrology, with this, what historican Nicholas Campion calls, the innovative energy in astrology moved west to the Hellenistic world of Greece and Egypt. According to Campion, the astrology that arrived from the Eastern World was marked by its complexity, astrology is believed to have originated in China about the 3rd millennium BC. Its system is based on astronomy and calendars and its development is tied to that of astronomy, astrology was traditionally regarded highly in China, and Confucius is said to have treated astrology with respect saying, Heaven sends down its good or evil symbols and wise men act accordingly. The 60-year cycle combining the five elements with the animal signs of the zodiac has been documented in China since at least the time of the Shang dynasty. Oracles bones have been found dating from that period with the according to the 60-year cycle inscribed on them, along with the name of the diviner. One of the most famous astrologers in China was Tsou Yen who lived in around 300 BC, the dictionary definition of Leo at Wiktionary Media related to Leo at Wikimedia Commons Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

17.
Virgo (astrology)
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Virgo is the sixth astrological sign in the Zodiac. It spans the 150-180th degree of the zodiac, individuals born during these dates, depending on which system of astrology they subscribe to, may be called Virgos or Virgoans. The symbol of the maiden is based on Astraea, in Greek mythology, she was the last immortal to abandon Earth at the end of the Silver Age, when the gods fled to Olympus – hence the signs association with Earth. Astrologers ascribe certain personality traits to a person born under the Virgo, people born under this sign are typically analytical, kind, hardworking, according to astrologers, Virgos tend to worry often, they are shy and dislike being the center of attention. They are also known for being modest, faithful, quiet, Virgos are also known for their intellect and usually enjoy art, literature, science, mathematics, and are skilled at completing detailed work. The constellation Virgo has lots of different origins depending on which mythology is being studied, most myths generally view Virgo as a virgin maiden with heavy association with wheat. In Greek and Roman mythology they relate the constellation to Demeter, mother of Persephone, or Proserpina in Roman, however, some tell tales of the Greek story of Parthenos, which means virgin in Greek, which explains how the actual constellation Virgo became to be. In this story Parthenos is the daughter of Staphylus and Chrysothemis, Rhoio had been impregnated by the Greek god Apollo, once her father had found out that she was pregnant he assumed it was from some random suitor and was greatly ashamed. As punishment her father locked her in box and threw her in a river, after the terrible fate of their sister, Parthenos and Molpadia were very nervous to anger their father in fear of his terrible wrath. On one evening, Staphylus left his two daughters in charge of a bottle of wine, back in time a very valuable item indeed. When they both fell asleep one of their swine broke in and broke the bottle. Fearing their fathers wrath, the two fled to a nearby cliff and threw themselves off. Because of Apollos previous relations with their sister Rhoio, Apollo saved the two from the cliff and delivered them to the safety of cities in Cherronseos. Molpadia ended up in Castabus where she changed her name to Hemithea and was worshipped as a goddess for many years. Parthenos ended up in Bubastus where she was worshipped as a local goddess. According to the story, Parthenos died at a young age. In some versions, Parthenos was actually the daughter of Apollo himself which would explain why he made a constellation after her death, while this is only one story in one myth of the origin of Virgo, she is seen throughout all matter of myths. In the Egyptian myths, when the constellation Virgo was in the sun was when the start of the wheat harvest again thus connecting Virgo back to the wheat grain and she also has various connections with the India goddess Kanya, and even the Virgin Mary

18.
Libra (astrology)
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Libra is the seventh astrological sign in the Zodiac. It spans the 180–210th degree of the zodiac, between 180 and 207.25 degree of celestial longitude, the symbol of the scales is based on the Scales of Justice held by Themis, the Greek personification of divine law and custom. She became the inspiration for modern depictions of Lady Justice, the ruling planet of Libra is Venus. Libra is the zodiac constellation in the sky represented by an inanimate object. The other eleven signs are represented either as an animal or mythological characters throughout history, Libra is one of the three zodiac air signs, the others being Gemini and Aquarius. The sign of Libra is symbolized by the gryphon, a creature with the head, wings and talons of an eagle. According to the Romans in the First Century, Libra was a constellation they idolized, the moon was said to be in Libra when Rome was founded. Everything was balanced under this righteous sign, the Roman writer Manilius once said that Libra was the sign in which the seasons are balanced. Both the hours of the day and the hours of the match each other. Thus why the Romans put so much trust in the balanced sign, going back to ancient Greek times, Libra the constellation between Virgo and Scorpio used to be over ruled by the constellation of Scorpio. According to the Tropical system of astrology, the Sun enters the sign of Libra when it reaches the southern vernal equinox, balance and harmony are said to rule this sign. They search for these aspects in all relationships making them friends, partners. This sign enjoys company for its own sake and their strengths lie in their abilities to cooperate and remain diplomatic. Libras can be as peaceful or violent as any other sign, libras are supposedly social beings and their happiness is based within relationships. They can be however, as with maturity comes extremely tactical observations. It is said that libras have an aura of harmony about them that attracts others. Longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°, atsma, Aaron J. Themis, Greek Titan goddess of divine-law, custom & prophecy. Geocentric Positions of Major Solar System Objects and Bright Stars, Libra Nature - Libra Ruling Planet

19.
Scorpio (astrology)
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Scorpio is the eighth astrological sign in the Zodiac. It spans the 210–240th degree of the zodiac, between 207.25 and 234.75 degree of celestial longitude, depending on which zodiac system one uses, an individual born under the influence of Scorpio may be called a Scorpio or a Scorpion. The symbol of the scorpion is based on Scorpius, a giant scorpion sent by Gaia to kill Orion, Scorpio is one of the three zodiac water signs, the others being Cancer and Pisces. Scorpios are analytical and meditative, and ponder data to create a realistic plan, the Scorpio is secretive and intense, though their careful approach to planning and action can appear as a lack of intensity. The Scorpio is good at hiding their feelings, which can cause problems in their relationships and they do not try to please others, and do not care what the world thinks of them. Longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°, atsma, Aaron J. Skorpios, Greek goddess of justice. Astrology, Tropical Zodiac and Sidereal Zodiac, archived from the original on 18 November 2015. The dictionary definition of Scorpio at Wiktionary Media related to Scorpio at Wikimedia Commons Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

20.
Sagittarius (astrology)
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Sagittarius is the ninth astrological sign, which is associated with the constellation Sagittarius and spans 240–270th degrees of the zodiac. Under the tropical zodiac, the sun transits this sign between approximately November 23 and December 21, the symbol of the archer is based on the centaur Chiron, who mentored Achilles, a Greek hero of the Trojan War, in archery. Sagittarius, half human and half horse, is the centaur of mythology, also known as the Archer, Sagittarius is represented by the symbol of a bow and arrow. Along with Aries and Leo, Sagittarius is a part of the Fire Trigon, the symbol of the zodiac sign is a Centaur armed with arrows following an old tradition coming from the Ancient Greece and from other cultures of the past. The image of the sign says a lot about his features, hes able to be violent or wise. Longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°, atsma, Aaron J. Kheiron, Greek goddess of justice. Parragon, flo Street house,4 Queen Street, Bath BA1 1HU, usa, isaiah

21.
Capricorn (astrology)
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Capricorn is the tenth astrological sign in the zodiac, originating from the constellation of Capricornus. It spans the 270–300th degree of the zodiac, corresponding to celestial longitude, in astrology, Capricorn is considered an earth sign, negative sign, and one of the four cardinal signs. Capricorn is said to be ruled by the planet Saturn and its symbol is based on the Sumerians primordial god of wisdom and waters, Enki with the head and upper body of a mountain goat, and the lower body and tail of a fish. Later known as Ea in Akkadian and Babylonian mythology, Enki was the god of intelligence, creation, crafts, magic, individuals born between December 21 to January 19 may be called Capricornian. Capricorn is third and last of the signs in the zodiac. In India, the day when the Sun enters the zodiac sign of Capricorn is celebrated as the Makara Sankranti festival. The Indian astronomical calendar is not based on the Western Gregorian or Julian date keeping system but has a differential lag. Hence, the festival is celebrated on either of 14 or 15 January every year, when, as per the Indian astronomical calendar, longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°. The year stated applies to the December date, the year for the January date is one year greater, augustin, M. Capricorn Mythology, what is it about. Capricorn, Scorpio, Leo, In search of power, simplified Scientific Astrology, A Complete Textbook on the Art of Erecting a Horoscope, with Philosophic Encyclopedia and Tables of Planetary Hours. The dictionary definition of Capricorn at Wiktionary Media related to Capricorn at Wikimedia Commons Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

22.
Aquarius (astrology)
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Aquarius is the eleventh astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the constellation Aquarius. The water carrier represented by the zodiacal constellation Aquarius is Ganymede, Ganymede was the son of Tros, king of Troy. While tending to his fathers flocks on Mount Ida, Ganymede was spotted by Jupiter, the king of gods became enamored of the boy and flew down to the mountain in the form of a large bird, whisking Ganymede away to the heavens. Ever since, the boy has served as cupbearer to the gods, ovid has Orpheus sing the tale, The king of the gods was once fired with love for Phrygian Ganymede, and when that happened Jupiter found another shape preferable to his own. Wishing to turn himself into a bird, he none the less scorned to change into any save that which can carry his thunderbolts. Then without delay, beating the air on borrowed pinions, he snatched away the shepherd of Ilium, who now mixes the winecups. Aquarius is a constellation in the northern hemisphere, found near Pisces. It is especially notable as the radiant for four meteor showers, the Aquarius Myth - The Story Behind the Constellation Aquarius. Longitude of Sun, apparent geocentric ecliptic of date, interpolated to find time of crossing 0°, 30°, simplified Scientific Astrology, A Complete Textbook on the Art of Erecting a Horoscope, with Philosophic Encyclopedia and Tables of Planetary Hours

23.
Pisces (astrology)
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Pisces is the twelfth astrological sign in the Zodiac, originating from the Pisces constellation. It spans the 330° to 360° of the zodiac, between 332. 75° and 360° of celestial longitude, the symbol of the fish is derived from the ichthyocentaurs, who aided Aphrodite when she was born from the sea. According to some tropical astrologers, the current astrological age is the Age of Pisces, today, the First Point of Aries, or the vernal equinox is in the Pisces constellation. There are no prominent stars in the constellation, with the brightest stars being of only fourth magnitude, one star in the constellation, Alpha Piscium, is also known as Alrescha which comes from the Arabic الرشآء al-rišā’, meaning the well rope, or the cord. Ptolemy described Alpha Piscium as the point where the joining the two fish are knotted together. The astrological symbol shows the two fishes captured by a string, typically by the mouth or the tails, the fish are usually portrayed swimming in opposite directions, this represents the duality within the Piscean nature. Although they appear as a pair, the name of the sign in all languages originally referred to only one fish with the exception of Greek, Bulgarian, Dutch, in Sidereal astrology, the sun currently transits the constellation of Pisces from approximately March 14 to April 14. Individuals born during these dates, depending on system of astrology they subscribe to. Divine associations with Pisces include Poseidon/Neptune, Christ, Aphrodite, Eros, Typhon, Pisces is the Latin word for Fishes. It is one of the earliest zodiac signs on record, with the two appearing as far back as c.2300 BCE on an Egyptian coffin lid. According to one Greek myth, Pisces represents the fish, sometimes represented by koi fish, into which Aphrodite and her son Eros transformed in order to escape the monster Typhon. Typhon, the father of all monsters had been sent by Gaia to attack the gods, which led Pan to warn the others before himself changing into a goat-fish and jumping into the Euphrates. A similar myth, one which the fish Pisces carry Aphrodite and her son out of danger, is resounded in Manilius five volume poetic work Astronomica, another myth is that an egg fell into the Euphrates river. It was then rolled to the shore by fish, doves sat on the egg until it hatched, out from which came Aphrodite. As a sign of gratitude towards the fish, Aphrodite put the fish into the night sky, purim, a Jewish holiday, falls at the full moon preceding the Passover, which was set by the full moon in Aries, which follows Pisces. The story of the birth of Christ is said to be a result of the spring equinox entering into the Pisces and this parallels the entering into the Age of Pisces. Astrological ages occur because of a known as the precession of the equinoxes. The age of Pisces began c.1 AD and will end c.2150 AD, with the story of the birth of Christ coinciding with this date, many Christian symbols for Christ use the astrological symbol for Pisces, the fishes

24.
Astrology
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Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial objects as a means for divining information about human affairs and terrestrial events. Throughout most of its history astrology was considered a tradition and was common in academic circles, often in close relation with astronomy, alchemy, meteorology. It was present in political circles, and is mentioned in works of literature, from Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer to William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in it has largely declined, Astrology is now recognized to be pseudoscience. The word astrology comes from the early Latin word astrologia, which derives from the Greek ἀστρολογία—from ἄστρον astron, astrologia later passed into meaning star-divination with astronomia used for the scientific term. Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the Indians, Chinese, the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems. Astrology has been dated to at least the 2nd millennium BCE, with roots in systems used to predict seasonal shifts. A form of astrology was practised in the first dynasty of Mesopotamia, Chinese astrology was elaborated in the Zhou dynasty. Hellenistic astrology after 332 BCE mixed Babylonian astrology with Egyptian Decanic astrology in Alexandria, Alexander the Greats conquest of Asia allowed astrology to spread to Ancient Greece and Rome. In Rome, astrology was associated with Chaldean wisdom, after the conquest of Alexandria in the 7th century, astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars, and Hellenistic texts were translated into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, Arabic texts were imported to Europe, major astronomers including Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo practised as court astrologers. Astrological references appear in literature in the works of such as Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer. Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition and it was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with other studies, such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine. At the end of the 17th century, new concepts in astronomy. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in astrology has largely declined, Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky. This was a first step towards recording the Moons influence upon tides and rivers, by the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the stars. Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa thought to be compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE, a scroll documenting an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash

25.
History of astrology
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Until the 17th century, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition, and it helped drive the development of astronomy. It was commonly accepted in political and cultural circles, and some of its concepts were used in traditional studies, such as alchemy, meteorology. In the 20th century, astrology gained broader consumer popularity through the influence of mass media products. Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky, it seeks to understand general and specific human behavior through the influence of planets. It has been argued that astrology began as a study as soon as human beings made conscious attempts to measure, record, there is scattered evidence to suggest that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made during this period. Two, from the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa are reported to have made during the reign of king Sargon of Akkad. Another, showing an early use of astrology, is ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash. This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most favourable for the construction of a temple. However, controversy attends the question of whether they were recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as a system of knowledge is therefore attributed to the records that emerge from the first dynasty of Mesopotamia. Babylonian astrology was the first organized system of astrology, arising in the 2nd millennium BC, the history of scholarly celestial divination is therefore generally reported to begin with late Old Babylonian texts, continuing through the Middle Babylonian and Middle Assyrian periods. By the 16th century BC the extensive employment of omen-based astrology can be evidenced in the compilation of a reference work known as Enuma Anu Enlil. Its contents consisted of 70 cuneiform tablets comprising 7,000 celestial omens, texts from this time also refer to an oral tradition - the origin and content of which can only be speculated upon. Astrological symbols likely represented seasonal tasks, and were used as an almanac of listed activities to remind a community to do things appropriate to the season or weather. By the 4th century, their mathematical methods had progressed enough to future planetary positions with reasonable accuracy. Babylonian astrology developed within the context of divination, blemishes and marks found on the liver of the sacrificial animal were interpreted as symbolic signs which presented messages from the gods to the king. The gods were believed to present themselves in the celestial images of the planets or stars with whom they were associated. Evil celestial omens attached to any particular planet were therefore seen as indications of dissatisfaction or disturbance of the god that planet represented

26.
Astrology and science
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Astrology consists of a number of belief systems that hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events or descriptions of personality in the human world. Astrology has been rejected by the community as having no explanatory power for describing the universe. Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has found to support the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions. Where astrology has made falsifiable predictions, it has been falsified, the most famous test was headed by Shawn Carlson and included a committee of scientists and a committee of astrologers. It led to the conclusion that natal astrology performed no better than chance, astrologer and psychologist Michel Gauquelin claimed to have found statistical support for the Mars effect in the birth dates of athletes, but it could not be replicated in further studies. The organisers of later claimed that Gauquelin had tried to influence their inclusion criteria for the study by suggesting specific individuals be removed. It has also suggested, by Geoffrey Dean, that the reporting of birth times by parents may have caused the apparent effect. Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in controlled studies and has no scientific validity. The majority of professional astrologers rely on performing astrology-based personality tests, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson commented on astrological belief, saying that part of knowing how to think is knowing how the laws of nature shape the world around us. Without that knowledge, without that capacity to think, you can become a victim of people who seek to take advantage of you. The continued belief in astrology despite its lack of credibility is seen as one demonstration of low scientific literacy and it was not known to the Babylonians that the constellations are not on a celestial sphere and are very far apart. The appearance of them being close is illusory, the exact demarcation of what a constellation is, is cultural, and varied between civilisations. Ptolemys work on astronomy was driven to some extent by the desire, like all astrologers of the time and this provided a further motivator for the study of astronomy. The clear rejection of astrology in works of astronomy started in 1679, the first work, Falak al-saada by Ictizad al-Saltana, aimed at undermining this belief in astrology and old astronomy in Iran was published in 1861. Astrology provides the example of a pseudoscience since it has been tested repeatedly. Science and non-science are often distinguished by the criterion of falsifiability, the criterion was first proposed by philosopher of science Karl Popper. To Popper, science does not rely on induction, instead scientific investigations are inherently attempts to falsify existing theories through novel tests, if a single test fails, then the theory is falsified. Therefore, any test of a theory must prohibit certain results that falsify the theory

27.
Astrology and astronomy
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Astrology and astronomy were archaically treated together, and were only gradually separated in Western 17th century philosophy with the rejection of astrology. During the later part of the period, astronomy was treated as the foundation upon which astrology could operate. Since the 18th century they have come to be regarded as separate disciplines. Astronomy, the study of objects and phenomena originating beyond the Earths atmosphere, is a science and is a widely studied academic discipline, in pre-modern times, most cultures did not make a clear distinction between the two disciplines, putting them both together as one. This overlap does not mean that astrology and astronomy were always regarded as one, in ancient Greece, pre-Socratic thinkers such as Anaximander, Xenophanes, Anaximenes, and Heraclides speculated about the nature and substance of the stars and planets. Astronomers such as Eudoxus observed planetary motions and cycles, and created a geocentric cosmological model that would be accepted by Aristotle and this model generally lasted until Ptolemy, who added epicycles to explain the retrograde motion of Mars. The Platonic school promoted the study of astronomy as a part of philosophy because the motions of the heavens demonstrate an orderly, in the third century BC, Babylonian astrology began to make its presence felt in Greece. Astrology was criticized by Hellenistic philosophers such as the Academic Skeptic Carneades, however, the notions of the Great Year and eternal recurrence were Stoic doctrines that made divination and fatalism possible. In the Hellenistic world, the Greek words astrologia and astronomia were often used interchangeably, plato taught about astronomia and stipulated that planetary phenomena should be described by a geometrical model. The first solution was proposed by Eudoxus, Aristotle favored a physical approach and adopted the word astrologia. Eccentrics and epicycles came to be thought of as useful fictions, for a more general public, the distinguishing principle was not evident and either word was acceptable. For the Babylonian horoscopic practice, the words used were apotelesma and katarche. Isidore identified the two strands entangled in the discipline and called them astrologia naturalis and astrologia superstitiosa. Astrology was widely accepted in medieval Europe as astrological texts from Hellenistic and Arabic astrologers were translated into Latin, in the late Middle Ages, its acceptance or rejection often depended on its reception in the royal courts of Europe. Not until the time of Francis Bacon was astrology rejected as a part of scholastic metaphysics rather than empirical observation, because of their lengthy shared history, it sometimes happens that the two are confused with one another even today. Many contemporary astrologers, however, do not claim that astrology is a science, but think of it as a form of divination like the I-Ching, the primary goal of astronomy is to understand the physics of the universe. Astrologers use astronomical calculations for the positions of bodies along the ecliptic and attempt to correlate celestial events with earthly events. Astronomers consistently use the method, naturalistic presuppositions and abstract mathematical reasoning to investigate or explain phenomena in the universe

28.
Babylonian astrology
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Babylonian astrology was the first organized system of astrology, arising in the second millennium B. C. The history of scholarly celestial divination is generally reported to begin with late Old Babylonian texts, continuing through the Middle Babylonian. By the 16th century B. C. the extensive employment of omen-based astrology can be evidenced in the compilation of a reference work known as Enuma Anu Enlil. Its contents consisted of 70 cuneiform tablets comprising 7,000 celestial omens, texts from this time also refer to an oral tradition - the origin and content of which can only be speculated upon. At this time Babylonian astrology was solely mundane, and prior to the 7th century B. C. the practitioners understanding of astronomy was fairly rudimentary. Because of their inability to predict future celestial phenomena and planetary movement very far in advance. By the 4th century, however, their mathematical methods had progressed enough to future planetary positions with reasonable accuracy. The history of Babylonian astrology shows the development of knowledge within the context of divination. Blemishes and marks found on the liver of the animal were interpreted as symbolic signs which presented messages from the gods to the king. The gods were believed to present themselves in the celestial images of the planets or stars with whom they were associated. Evil celestial omens attached to any particular planet were therefore seen as indications of dissatisfaction or disturbance of the god that planet represented. Such indications were met with attempts to appease the god and find manageable ways by which the expression could be realised without significant harm to the king. An astronomical report to the king Esarhaddon concerning a lunar eclipse of January 673 B. C, when the Moon has made the eclipse, the king, my lord, should write to me. As a substitute for the king, I will cut through a dike, here in Babylonia, no one will know about it. These five planets were identified with the gods of the Babylonian pantheon as follows, Jupiter with Marduk, Venus with the goddess Ishtar, Saturn with Ninurta, Mercury with Nabu, Mars with Nergal. If, therefore, one could read and interpret the activity of these powers. In this way a mass of interpretation of all kinds of observed phenomena was gathered. However, not all of these ideas are used in astrology as it is usually practiced today

29.
Hellenistic astrology
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Hellenistic astrology is a tradition of horoscopic astrology that was developed and practiced in the late Hellenistic period in and around the Mediterranean region, especially in Egypt. The texts and technical terminology of this tradition of astrology were largely written in Greek, the tradition originated sometime around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE, and then was practiced until the 6th or 7th century CE. This system later spread either directly or indirectly through the Babylonians to other such as China. This new form of astrology quickly spread across the ancient world into Europe, additionally, some authors such as Vettius Valens and Paulus Alexandrinus took into account the Monomoiria, or individual degrees of a horoscope. Several Hellenistic astrologers ascribe its creation to a sage named Hermes Trismegistus. Hermes is said to have several major texts which formed the basis of the art or its evolution from the system of astrology that was inherited from the Babylonians. This system of astrology was then passed to another mythical figure named Asclepius to who some of the Hermetic writings are addressed. According to Firmicus Maternus, the system was handed down to an Egyptian pharaoh named Nechepso. They are said to have several major textbooks which explicated the system and it is from this text that many of the later Hellenistic astrologers draw from. This system formed the basis of all forms of horoscopic astrology. In 525 BCE Egypt was conquered by the Persians so there is likely to have been some Mesopotamian influence on Egyptian astrology, after the occupation by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, Egypt came under Greek rule and influence. The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander after the conquest and during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE and it was in Alexandrian Egypt that Babylonian astrology was mixed with the Egyptian tradition of Decanic astrology to create Horoscopic astrology. This contained the Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary exaltations, the triplicities of the signs, the decans were a system of time measurement according to the constellations. They were led by the constellation Sothis or Sirius, the risings of the decans in the night were used to divide the night into ‘hours’. The rising of a constellation just before sunrise was considered the last hour of the night, over the course of the year, each constellation rose just before sunrise for ten days. When they became part of the astrology of the Hellenistic Age, texts from the 2nd century BCE list predictions relating to the positions of planets in zodiac signs at the time of the rising of certain decans, particularly Sothis. Particularly important in the development of horoscopic astrology was the astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy, ptolemys work the Tetrabiblos laid the basis of the Western astrological tradition. The earliest Zodiac found in Egypt dates to the 1st century BCE, according to Firmicus Maternus, the system of horoscopic astrology was given early on to an Egyptian pharaoh named Nechepso and his priest Petosiris

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Astrology in medieval Islam
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The science dealing with such influences was termed astrology, a discipline contained within the field of astronomy. Throughout the medieval period the practical application of astrology was subject to deep philosophical debate by Muslim religious scholars, Medieval Islamic astrology and astronomy continued Hellenistic and Roman era traditions based on Ptolemys Almagest. During this time knowledge of astronomy was greatly increased, and the astrolabe was invented by Al Fazari, many modern star names are derived from their Arabic and Persian names. Its important to note even the word star is Persian word often used as first name for girls pronounced in Persian Setareh. Albumasur or Abu Mashar was one of the most influential Islamic astrologers and his treatise Introductorium in Astronomiam spoke of how only by observing the great diversity of planetary motions can we comprehend the unnumbered varieties of change in this world. Persians also combined the disciplines of medicine and astrology by linking the properties of herbs with specific zodiac signs. Mars, for instance, was considered hot and dry and so ruled plants with a hot or pungent taste, like hellebore and these beliefs were adopted by European herbalists like Culpeper right up until the development of modern medicine. The Persians also developed a system, by which the difference between the ascendant and each planet of the zodiac was calculated and this new position then became a part of some kind. For example, the part of fortune is found by taking the difference between the sun and the ascendant and adding it to the moon. If the part thus calculated was in the 10th House in Libra, for instance, the calendar introduced by Omar Khayyám Neyshabouri, based on the classical zodiac, remains in effect in Afghanistan and Iran as the official Persian calendar. Another notable Persian astrologer and astronomer was Qutb al-Din al Shirazi born in Iran, al-Shirazi was also the first person to give the correct scientific explanation for the formation of a rainbow. Ulugh Beyg was a fifteenth-century Timurid Sultan and also a mathematician and he built an observatory in 1428 and produced the first original star map since Ptolemy, which corrected the position of many stars and included many new ones. Some of the principles of astrology were refuted by several medieval Islamic astronomers such as Al-Farabi, Ibn al-Haytham, Avicenna, Abu Rayhan al-Biruni and their reasons for refuting astrology were often due to both scientific and religious reasons. However these refutations mainly concerned the judicial branches of astrology rather than the principles of it. For example, Avicennas refutation of astrology revealed support for its overarching principles and he stated that it was true that each planet had some influence on the earth, but his argument was the difficulty of astrologers being able to determine the exact effect of it. In essence, Avicenna did not refute astrology, but denied man’s limited capacity to be able to know the effects of the stars on the sublunar matter. With that, he did not refute the essential dogma of astrology, why is it that you have given an influence to al-Ras and al-Dhanab, which are two imaginary points. According to jurists, the study of astronomy is lawful, as it is useful in predicting the beginning of months and seasons, determining the direction of salat, and navigation

31.
Hindu astrology
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Jyotisha is the traditional Hindu system of astrology, also known as Hindu astrology, Indian astrology, and more recently Vedic astrology. Vedanga Jyotisha is one of the earliest texts about astronomy within the Vedas, however, some authors have claimed that the horoscopic astrology in the Indian subcontinent came from Hellenistic influences, post-dating the Vedic period. Following a judgement of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2001, Jyotiṣa is one of the Vedāṅga, the six auxiliary disciplines used to support Vedic rituals. Early jyotiṣa is concerned with the preparation of a calendar to fix the date of sacrificial rituals, there are mentions of eclipse causing demons in the Atharvaveda and Chāndogya Upaniṣad, the Chāndogya mentioning Rāhu. In fact the term graha, which is now taken to mean planet, the Ṛigveda also mentions an eclipse causing demon, Svarbhānu, however the specific term of graha becomes applied to Svarbhānu in the later Mahābhārata and Rāmāyaṇa. The foundation of Hindu astrology is the notion of bandhu of the Vedas, Hindu astrology includes several nuanced sub-systems of interpretation and prediction with elements not found in Hellenistic astrology, such as its system of lunar mansions. It was only after the transmission of Hellenistic astrology that the order of planets in India was fixed in that of the seven-day week, Hellenistic astrology and astronomy also transmitted the twelve zodiacal signs beginning with Aries and the twelve astrological places beginning with the ascendant. The first evidence of the introduction of Greek astrology to India is the Yavanajātaka which dates to the early centuries CE, however the only version that survives is the later verse version of Sphujidhvaja which dates to AD270. The first Indian astronomical text to define the weekday was the Āryabhaṭīya of Āryabhaṭa, the astronomical texts of these 300 years are lost. The later Pañcasiddhāntikā of Varāhamihira summarizes the five known Indian astronomical schools of the sixth century and it is interesting to note that Indian astronomy preserved some of the older pre-Ptolemaic elements of Greek astronomy. The main texts upon which classical Indian astrology is based are early medieval compilations, notably the Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra, and Sārāvalī by Kalyāṇavarma. The Horāshastra is a work of 71 chapters, of which the first part dates to the 7th to early 8th centuries. The Sārāvalī likewise dates to around 800 CE, english translations of these texts were published by N. N. Choudhari in 1963 and 1961, respectively, Astrology remains an important facet in the lives of many Hindus. Astrology retains a position among the sciences in modern India, following a judgement of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2001, some Indian universities offer advanced degrees in astrology. Astrology remains an important facet of Hindu folk belief in contemporary India, many Hindus believe that heavenly bodies, including the planets, have an influence throughout the life of a human being, and these planetary influences are the fruit of karma. The Navagraha, planetary deities, are considered subordinate to Ishvara, i. e. the Supreme Being, thus, these planets can influence earthly life. The decision was backed up by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, despite protests from the scientific community in India

32.
Chinese astrology
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Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. The development of Chinese astrology is tied to that of astronomy, Chinese astrology was elaborated during the Zhou dynasty and flourished during the Han Dynasty. The system of the cycle of animal signs was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter. Following the orbit of Jupiter around the sun, Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections, Jupiter is associated with the constellation Sheti and is sometimes called Sheti. The 28 Chinese constellations, Xiu, are different from Western constellations. For example, the Big Bear is known as Dou, the belt of Orion is known as Shen, or the Happiness, Fortune, the seven northern constellations are referred to as Xuan Wu. Xuan Wu is also known as the spirit of the sky or the spirit of Water in Taoism belief. In addition to readings of the heavenly bodies, the stars in the sky form the basis of many fairy tales. For example, the Summer Triangle is the trio of the cowherd, the weaving maiden fairy, the two forbidden lovers were separated by the silvery river. Each year on the day of the seventh month in the Chinese calendar. The cowherd carries their two sons across the bridge to reunite with their fairy mother, the tai bai fairy acts as the chaperone of these two immortal lovers. Chinese astrology has a relation with Chinese philosophy which the core values. The 60-year cycle consists of two separate cycles interacting with each other, the first is the cycle of ten heavenly stems, namely the Five Elements in their Yin and Yang forms. The second is the cycle of the zodiac animal signs or Earthly Branches. They are in order as follows, the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, in Vietnam the Rabbit is replaced by the cat. Since the zodiac animal cycle of 12 is divisible by two, every zodiac sign can only as either Yin or Yang, the Dragon is always yang. The current cycle began in 1984, when trying to traverse the lunisolar calendar, an easy rule to follow is that years that end in an even number are yang, those that end with an odd number are yin. The cycle proceeds as follows, If the year ends in 0 it is Yang Metal, If the year ends in 1 it is Yin Metal

33.
Natal astrology
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Natal astrology can be found in the Indian or Jyotish, Chinese and Western astrological traditions. Once the horoscope has been constructed the process of interpretation can begin, interpretation involves three main steps, noting the important features of the chart, and the processes of chart weighting and chart shaping. Chart weighting involves noting the distribution of zodiac signs and houses in the chart, Chart shaping involves assessing the placement of the planets by aspect and position in the chart, and noting any significant patterns which occur between them. Astrology is generally considered a pseudoscience by the scientific community, what little statistical evidence exists fails to show a causation between natal birth charts and real world consequences. Also important is the first planet to occupy the first, second, called the rising planet it will be particularly strong in the chart. If no planet occupies the first three houses, then a planet in the house close to the ascendant can be taken to be the rising planet. Planets that are in conjunction to the angles of ascendant, midheaven, descendant. Chart weighting begins by listing the sun, moon, planets, ascendant, for example, a large number of planets appearing in fire signs will give importance or weight to fire sign attributes in the natives personality. Chart weighting by sign lists the zodiac signs by three main categories - by masculine or feminine signs, by element and by quality, a native with these signs predominating will tend towards extroversion, confidence and assertiveness, and have the ability to solve problems with courage and enterprise. Feminine, The feminine signs are Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, a native with these signs predominating will tend towards introversion, shyness and passivity, and have the ability to nurture, conserve and solve problems by intuitive means. Fire, The fires signs are Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, a native with mainly fire signs will be energetic, enthusiastic and optimistic, with a need to be in the center of the action making things happen. They can be egotistical, headstrong and sometimes arrogant, but also can be generous, warm-hearted, fire subjects are independent and prefer to have control over their own lives, but they can also be sometimes autocratic. A subject lacking fire signs will be fearful or over-cautious, pessimistic and shy, planets in the 1st, 5th and 9th houses and an emphasis on cardinal signs in the chart will help to compensate for this lack. Earth, The earth signs are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, a native with mainly earth signs will be practical and cautious, sensible and capable and will be happier with concrete things than abstract ideas. They move slowly and carry out their work in a thorough, earth subjects are shrewd and careful and need emotional and material security, and will put up with quite a lot to get it. They are generous to those they love, but are otherwise not to waste time or money. Earth subjects tend to be shy in social situations, and to be slow to commit in love relationships, a subject lacking earth signs will lack common sense and practicality and find it difficult to finish anything they start. They may be scatty, unrealistic and clumsy, hopeless with money, planets in the 2nd, 6th and 10th houses and an emphasis on fixed signs in the chart will help to compensate for this lack

34.
Horary astrology
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Horary astrology has its own strict system. The position of and aspects to the moon are of prime importance, the person asking the question, or querent, is represented by the ruler of the sign the first house cusp falls on in the horoscope. Planetary aspects to the cusps are considered more important than in other branches of astrology. Other key elements used in horary astrology include the lunar nodes, the planetary antiscia, the fixed stars, typically, a horary chart is read by first assigning the thing asked about, the quesited, to a particular house in the chart. For instance, asking Where is my lost dog, would be represented by the sixth house, as it is the house that governs small animals. The house cusp of the house will be in a particular sign. Libra is ruled by Venus, so Venus is considered the significator of the lost dog, venuss state in the horoscope will give clues to the animals location. Horary astrology is suited for situations and divination but not suited for obtaining details, e. g. addresses, names, any house system preferred by the astrologer may be used, but commonly horary astrologers choose to divide the chart using the Regiomontanus house system. Understanding the correct house for the context of the question is pivotal to the interpretation of a horary question. Everything can be assigned to a house and it is to house, and its ruler. Whatever planet is ruling the sign on the cusp of the house is called the quesited, the context of the horary will often determine the house. For example, if the horary is about matters pertaining to career, a short, non-exhaustive, list of possible associations with houses follows, The First House The querent. The querents physical appearance or temperament, so mental state, the Second House The querents finance, wealth and general material and financial possessions. Moveable possessions as opposed to immovable possessions, allies or supports for the querent, such as your lawyer in court cases. Any personal goods and belongings, immovable possessions such as houses are fourth house, questions about the value of any of your possessions would be second house, for example the buying and selling of a car would be second house. The Third House Siblings and neighbors, any general concern about relatives may be considered third house. General comings and goings and short journeys and travels, lower education such as elementary, junior high/middle and high school. Immovable possessions as opposed to movable possessions, e. g. your houses, garden, mines, oil, buried treasure and anything which comes from the bowels of the earth

35.
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole

36.
Unicode
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Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the worlds writing systems. As of June 2016, the most recent version is Unicode 9.0, the standard is maintained by the Unicode Consortium. Unicodes success at unifying character sets has led to its widespread, the standard has been implemented in many recent technologies, including modern operating systems, XML, Java, and the. NET Framework. Unicode can be implemented by different character encodings, the most commonly used encodings are UTF-8, UTF-16 and the now-obsolete UCS-2. UTF-8 uses one byte for any ASCII character, all of which have the same values in both UTF-8 and ASCII encoding, and up to four bytes for other characters. UCS-2 uses a 16-bit code unit for each character but cannot encode every character in the current Unicode standard, UTF-16 extends UCS-2, using one 16-bit unit for the characters that were representable in UCS-2 and two 16-bit units to handle each of the additional characters. Many traditional character encodings share a common problem in that they allow bilingual computer processing, Unicode, in intent, encodes the underlying characters—graphemes and grapheme-like units—rather than the variant glyphs for such characters. In the case of Chinese characters, this leads to controversies over distinguishing the underlying character from its variant glyphs. In text processing, Unicode takes the role of providing a unique code point—a number, in other words, Unicode represents a character in an abstract way and leaves the visual rendering to other software, such as a web browser or word processor. This simple aim becomes complicated, however, because of concessions made by Unicodes designers in the hope of encouraging a more rapid adoption of Unicode, the first 256 code points were made identical to the content of ISO-8859-1 so as to make it trivial to convert existing western text. For other examples, see duplicate characters in Unicode and he explained that he name Unicode is intended to suggest a unique, unified, universal encoding. In this document, entitled Unicode 88, Becker outlined a 16-bit character model, Unicode could be roughly described as wide-body ASCII that has been stretched to 16 bits to encompass the characters of all the worlds living languages. In a properly engineered design,16 bits per character are more than sufficient for this purpose, Unicode aims in the first instance at the characters published in modern text, whose number is undoubtedly far below 214 =16,384. By the end of 1990, most of the work on mapping existing character encoding standards had been completed, the Unicode Consortium was incorporated in California on January 3,1991, and in October 1991, the first volume of the Unicode standard was published. The second volume, covering Han ideographs, was published in June 1992, in 1996, a surrogate character mechanism was implemented in Unicode 2.0, so that Unicode was no longer restricted to 16 bits. The Microsoft TrueType specification version 1.0 from 1992 used the name Apple Unicode instead of Unicode for the Platform ID in the naming table, Unicode defines a codespace of 1,114,112 code points in the range 0hex to 10FFFFhex. Normally a Unicode code point is referred to by writing U+ followed by its hexadecimal number, for code points in the Basic Multilingual Plane, four digits are used, for code points outside the BMP, five or six digits are used, as required. Code points in Planes 1 through 16 are accessed as surrogate pairs in UTF-16, within each plane, characters are allocated within named blocks of related characters

37.
Zodiac
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The zodiac is an area of the sky centered upon the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The paths of the Moon and visible planets also remain close to the ecliptic, within the belt of the zodiac, in western astrology and astronomy, the zodiac is divided into twelve signs, each sign occupying 30° of celestial longitude. Because the signs are regular, they do not correspond exactly to the boundaries of the twelve constellations after which they are named, the English word zodiac derives from zōdiacus, the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek zōidiakòs kýklos, meaning circle of little animals. Zōidion is the diminutive of zōion, the name reflects the prominence of animals among the twelve signs. The construction of the zodiac is described in Ptolemys vast 2nd century AD work, the term zodiac may also refer to the region of the celestial sphere encompassing the paths of the planets corresponding to the band of about eight arc degrees above and below the ecliptic. The zodiac of a planet is the band that contains the path of that particular body, e. g. the zodiac of the Moon is the band of five degrees above. By extension, the zodiac of the comets may refer to the band encompassing most short-period comets, the division of the ecliptic into the zodiacal signs originates in Babylonian astronomy during the first half of the 1st millennium BC. The zodiac draws on stars in earlier Babylonian star catalogues, such as the MUL. APIN catalogue, around the end of the 5th century BC, Babylonian astronomers divided the ecliptic into twelve equal signs, by analogy to twelve schematic months of thirty days each. Each sign contained thirty degrees of longitude, thus creating the first known celestial coordinate system. Because the division was made into equal arcs, 30° each, in Babylonian astronomical diaries, a planet position was generally given with respect to a zodiacal sign alone, less often in specific degrees within a sign. When the degrees of longitude were given, they were expressed with reference to the 30° of the zodiacal sign, in astronomical ephemerides, the positions of significant astronomical phenomena were computed in sexagesimal fractions of a degree. For daily ephemerides, the positions of a planet were not as important as the astrologically significant dates when the planet crossed from one zodiacal sign to the next. The Babylonian star catalogs entered Greek astronomy in the 4th century BC, Babylonia or Chaldea in the Hellenistic world came to be so identified with astrology that Chaldean wisdom became among Greeks and Romans the synonym of divination through the planets and stars. Hellenistic astrology derived in part from Babylonian and Egyptian astrology, horoscopic astrology first appeared in Ptolemaic Egypt. The Dendera zodiac, a dating to ca.50 BC, is the first known depiction of the classical zodiac of twelve signs. The earliest extant Greek text using the Babylonian division of the zodiac into 12 signs of 30 equal degrees each is the Anaphoricus of Hypsicles of Alexandria. Particularly important in the development of Western horoscopic astrology was the astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy, whose work Tetrabiblos laid the basis of the Western astrological tradition. Under the Greeks, and Ptolemy in particular, the planets, Houses, Ptolemy lived in the 2nd century AD, three centuries after the discovery of the precession of the equinoxes by Hipparchus around 130 BC

38.
Mesopotamia
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In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq

39.
March equinox
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In the Northern Hemisphere the March equinox is known as the vernal equinox, and in the Southern Hemisphere as the autumnal equinox. On the Gregorian calendar the Northward equinox can occur as early as 19 March or as late as 21 March. For a common year the computed time slippage is about 5 hours 49 minutes later than the previous year, and for a leap year about 18 hours 11 minutes earlier than the previous year. Balancing the increases of the years against the losses of the leap years keeps the calendar date of the March equinox from drifting more than one day from 20 March each year. The March equinox may be taken to mark the beginning of spring and the end of winter in the Northern Hemisphere but marks the beginning of autumn, in astronomy, the March equinox is the zero point of sidereal time and, consequently, right ascension. It also serves as a reference for calendars and celebrations in many human cultures, the March equinox is one point in time commonly used to determine the length of the tropical year. The mean tropical year is the average of all the tropical years measured from every point along the Earths orbit. The following table shows the small variations in timing over a period of time. The point where the Sun crosses the equator northwards is called the First Point of Aries. However, due to the precession of the equinoxes, this point is no longer in the constellation Aries, by the year 2600 it will be in Aquarius. The Earths axis causes the First Point of Aries to travel westwards across the sky at a rate of one degree every 72 years. It passed by a corner of Cetus at 0°10′ distance in the year 1489. In its apparent motion on the day of an equinox, the Suns disk crosses the Earths horizon directly to the east at dawn—rising, the March equinox, like all equinoxes, is characterized by having an almost exactly equal amount of daylight and night across most latitudes on Earth. Due to refraction of light rays in the Earths atmosphere the Sun will be visible above the horizon even when its disc is completely below the limb of the Earth and these conditions produce differentials of actual durations of light and darkness at various locations on Earth during an equinox. This is most notable at the extreme latitudes, where the Sun may be seen to travel sideways considerably during the dawn. The Persian calendar begins each year at the equinox, observationally determined at Tehran. The Indian national calendar starts the year on the day next to the equinox on 22 March with a 30-day month. The Julian calendar reform lengthened seven months and replaced the intercalary month with a day to be added every four years to February

40.
Precession
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Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, in other words, if the axis of rotation of a body is itself rotating about a second axis, that body is said to be precessing about the second axis. A motion in which the second Euler angle changes is called nutation, in physics, there are two types of precession, torque-free and torque-induced. In astronomy, precession refers to any of several changes in an astronomical bodys rotational or orbital parameters. An important example is the change in the orientation of the axis of rotation of the Earth. Torque-free precession implies that no moment is applied to the body. In torque-free precession, the momentum is a constant. What makes this possible is a moment of inertia, or more precisely. The inertia matrix is composed of the moments of inertia of a body calculated with respect to coordinate axes. If an object is asymmetric about its axis of rotation. The result is that the component of the velocities of the body about each axis will vary inversely with each axis moment of inertia. When an object is not perfectly solid, internal vortices will tend to damp torque-free precession, R new = exp ⁡ R old for the skew-symmetric matrix ×. Torque-induced precession is the phenomenon in which the axis of a spinning object describes a cone in space when a torque is applied to it. The phenomenon is seen in a spinning toy top. If the speed of the rotation and the magnitude of the external torque are constant, the spin axis will move at right angles to the direction that would intuitively result from the external torque. In the case of a toy top, its weight is acting downwards from its center of mass and these two opposite forces produce a torque which causes the top to precess. The device depicted on the right is gimbal mounted, from inside to outside there are three axes of rotation, the hub of the wheel, the gimbal axis, and the vertical pivot. To distinguish between the two axes, rotation around the wheel hub will be called spinning, and rotation around the gimbal axis will be called pitching

41.
Aries (constellation)
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Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It is located in the celestial hemisphere between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. The name Aries is Latin for ram, and its symbol is and it is one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is a constellation, ranking 39th overall size, with an area of 441 square degrees. Although Aries came to represent specifically the ram whose fleece became the Golden Fleece of Ancient Greek mythology, before that, the stars of Aries formed a farmhand. Different cultures have incorporated the stars of Aries into different constellations including twin inspectors in China, Aries is a relatively dim constellation, possessing only four bright stars, Hamal, Sheratan, Mesarthim, and 41 Arietis. The few deep-sky objects within the constellation are faint and include several pairs of interacting galaxies. Several meteor showers appear to radiate from Aries, including the Daytime Arietids, Aries is now recognized as an official constellation, albeit as a specific region of the sky, by the International Astronomical Union. It was originally defined in ancient texts as a pattern of stars. In the description of the Babylonian zodiac given in the clay tablets known as the MUL. APIN, the MUL. APIN was a comprehensive table of the risings and settings of stars, which likely served as an agricultural calendar. Modern-day Aries was known as MULLÚ. ḪUN. GÁ, The Agrarian Worker or The Hired Man, the earliest identifiable reference to Aries as a distinct constellation comes from the boundary stones that date from 1350 to 1000 BC. On several boundary stones, a zodiacal ram figure is distinct from the characters present. The shift in identification from the constellation as the Agrarian Worker to the Ram likely occurred in later Babylonian tradition because of its association with Dumuzi the Shepherd. By the time the MUL. APIN was created—by 1000 BC—modern Aries was identified with both Dumuzis ram and a hired laborer, the exact timing of this shift is difficult to determine due to the lack of images of Aries or other ram figures. In ancient Egyptian astronomy, Aries was associated with the god Amon-Ra, because it was the location of the vernal equinox, it was called the Indicator of the Reborn Sun. During the times of the year when Aries was prominent, priests would process statues of Amon-Ra to temples, Aries acquired the title of Lord of the Head in Egypt, referring to its symbolic and mythological importance. Aries was not fully accepted as a constellation until classical times, in Hellenistic astrology, the constellation of Aries is associated with the golden ram of Greek mythology that rescued Phrixos and Helle on orders from Hermes, taking Phrixos to the land of Colchis. Phrixos and Helle were the son and daughter of King Athamas, the kings second wife, Ino, was jealous and wished to kill his children

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Pisces (constellation)
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Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish and it lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east. The ecliptic and the equator intersect within this constellation and in Virgo. The vernal equinox is currently located in Pisces, due south of ω Psc, van Maanens Star, at 12.36 magnitude, is located in this constellation, along with others, such as HD222410, at 7.45 magnitude. It has many clusters of stars and the associated nebulae. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer, in 1780, NGC488 is an isolated face-on prototypical spiral galaxy. NGC520 is a pair of colliding galaxies located 90 million lightyears away, CL 0024+1654 is a massive galaxy cluster that lenses the galaxy behind it, creating arc-shaped images of the background galaxy. 3C31 is a galaxy and radio source in Perseus located at a distance of 237 million light-years from Earth. Its jets, caused by the black hole at its center. Pisces originates from some composition of the Babylonian constellations Šinunutu4 the great swallow in current western Pisces, in the first-millennium BC texts known as the Astronomical Diaries, part of the constellation was also called DU. NU. NU. Pisces is associated with Aphrodite and Eros, who escaped from the monster Typhon by leaping into the sea, in order not to lose each other, they tied themselves together with rope. The Romans adopted the Greek legend, with Venus and Cupid acting as the counterparts for Aphrodite, the knot of the rope is marked by Alpha Piscium, also called Al-Rischa. Linum Boreum, χ – ρ,94 – VX – η – π – ο – α Psc, linum Austrinum, α – ξ – ν – μ – ζ – ε – δ –41 –35 – ω Psc. Piscis Austrinus, ω – ι – θ –7 – β –5 – κ,9 – λ – TX Psc. However the proposal was largely neglected by other astronomers with the exception of Admiral Smyth, who mentioned it in his book The Bedford Catalogue, and it is now obsolete. The Fishes are also associated with the German legend of Antenteh, who owned just a tub and they offered him a wish, which he refused. However, his wife begged him to return to the fish and this wish was granted, but her desires were not satisfied. She then asked to be a queen and have a palace, but when she asked to become a goddess, the tub in the story is sometimes recognized as the Great Square of Pegasus

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Astrological age
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There are twelve astrological ages corresponding to the twelve zodiacal signs in western astrology. Advocates believe that one cycle of the twelve astrological ages is completed. The length of one cycle of twelve ages is 25,860 years, astrologers do not agree upon exact dates for the beginning or ending of the ages, with given dates varying hundreds of years. Archeoastronomers in general do not believe in astrology, but they study the traditions of societies that did refer extensively to astrology. Astrologers have been interested in relating world history to the ages since the late 19th century, however, most astrologers study horoscopes. The general public has become aware of the Age of Aquarius since it was publicized in the musical Hair, definitive details on the astrological ages are lacking, and consequently most details available about the astrological ages are disputed. In 2000 Neil Spencer in his book True as the Stars Above expressed an opinion about the astrological ages. Spencer singles out the ages as being fuzzy, speculative. Ray Grasse states in Signs of the Times - Unlocking the Symbolic Language of World Events that there is dispute over the exact starting and ending times for the different Great Ages. Astrologers use many ways to divide the Great Year into twelve astrological ages, one method is to divide the Great Year into twelve astrological ages of approximately equal lengths of around 2160 years per age based on the vernal equinox moving through the sidereal zodiac. Another method is to vary the duration of each astrological age based on the passage of the vernal equinox measured against the actual zodiacal constellations. Each of those sections of the Great Year can be called either an astrological age. The method based on the zodiacal constellations has a flaw in that the stars of many constellations overlap, for example, by 2700 the vernal point will have moved into Aquarius, but due to overlap the vernal point will also point to Pisces. Many astrologers consider the entrance into a new age a gradual transition called a cusp. For example, Ray Grasse states that an astrological age does not begin at a day or year. Paul Wright states that a transition effect does occur at the border of the astrological ages. Consequently, the beginning of any age cannot be defined to a year or a decade. Many astrologers believe that the world is transitioning from the Pisces and Aquarian Ages, a few astrologers consider the last c.10 degrees of a given age as the time period during which the new age starts to make visible its influences, also called orb of influence

Fresco with a seated Venus, restored as a personification of Rome in the so-called ”Dea Barberini” (“Barberini goddess”); Roman artwork, dated first half of the 4th century AD, from a room near the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Laterano

Astrology and astronomy were archaically treated together (Latin: astrologia), and were only gradually separated in …

Early science, particularly geometry and astronomy/astrology (astronomia), was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars. The compass in this 13th-century manuscript is a symbol of God's act of creation, as many believed that there was something intrinsically divine or perfect that could be found in circles.

An engraving by Albrecht Dürer featuring Mashallah, from the title page of the De scientia motus orbis (Latin version with engraving, 1504). As in many medieval illustrations, the compass here is an icon of religion as well as science, in reference to God as the architect of creation.

An astrological age is a time period in astrologic theology which astrologers claim parallels major changes in the …

Precessional movement as seen from 'outside' the celestial sphere. The rotation axis of the Earth describes over a period of about 25,800 years a small circle (blue) among the stars, centred around the ecliptic northpole (blue E) and with an angular radius of about 23.4°: the angle known as the obliquity of the ecliptic. The orange axis was the Earth's rotation axis 5000 years ago when it pointed to the star Thuban. The yellow axis, pointing to Polaris is the situation now. Note that when the celestial sphere is seen from outside constellations appear in mirror image. Also note that the daily rotation of the Earth around its axis is opposite to the precessional rotation. When the polar axis precesses from one direction to another, then the equatorial plane of the Earth (indicated with the circular grid around the equator) and the associated celestial equator will move too. Where the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic (red line) there are the equinoxes. As seen from the drawing, the orange grid, 5000 years ago one intersection of equator and ecliptic, the vernal equinox was close to the star Aldebaran of Taurus. By now (the yellow grid) it has shifted (red arrow) to somewhere in the constellation of Pisces. Note that this is an astronomical description of the precessional movement and the vernal equinox position in a given constellation may not imply the astrological meaning of an Age carrying the same name, as they (ages and constellations) only have an exact alignment in the "first point of Aries", meaning once in each c. 25800 (Great Sidereal Year).